Air Serbia will be operating twice-daily flights from London Heathrow to Belgrade from May 19.
Currently Air Serbia operates nine flights a week (daily plus two extra flights) on the route. This will increase the total to 16 flights a week.
Timings for this extra daily flight are:
JU389 London Heathrow to Belgrade 2045-0025 (following day)
JU388 Belgrade to London Heathrow 1615-1820
Readers will surely wonder how Air Serbia was able to afford this extra Heathrow slot.
As readers may know, a single Heathrow slot (covering arrival and departure times) costs roughly between US$25 million and US$75 million.
The reason is because the slot’s owner is Gulf carrier Etihad. It was previously leased to India’s Jet Airways.
When Jet Airways suspended Heathrow operations the slots reverted to Etihad.
Etihad has a financial stake in Jet Airways. It also owns 49 per cent of Belgrade-based Air Serbia over whom it has management control.
Both new flights are open for reservations on the carrier’s website.
